By Andrew SwiftAndrew Swift is an editorial researcher at Foreign Policy.

September 13, 2010 - 2:00 pm

No surprise that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusoni and Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qaddafi seem to be extremely fond of each other: they’re both prone to making extremely… questionable… comments. Berlusconi put on his old sage hat Sunday and offered this relationship advice:

I said to a girl to look for a wealthy boyfriend. This suggestion is not unrealistic.

Berlusconi, being famously wealthy himself, noted that women are drawn to him because he’s a "nice guy" — and oh yeah, that "I’m loaded." He went on to say women like older men because they think, "‘he’s old. He dies and I inherit.’" Classy.

Of course Berlusconi’s trysts are well known. He’s been accused by his wife of putting attractive young women on his party lists in European elections, and last year he was embroiled in a scandal over his ‘companionships‘ with a slew of women. His wife is seeking a divorce.

As if his comments on women weren’t bad enough, he went ahead and made a Hitler joke — based on the premise of Hitler’s followers urging him to return to power. Berlusconi preemptively acknowledged his crassness, saying "I already know I am going to be criticized."